Gay Byrne agrees to have his portrait painted on live television.
John Howard Taylor, an English artist who has been painting for 30 years, creates an image of Gay Byrne. The artist uses a rather unusual working style which he believes matches The Late Late Show presenter's joie de vivre.
A magic moment in the history of art.
With the help of his assistant Susan, John Howard Taylor applies paint to his canvass with props including a bicycle. As well as paint he uses eggs, tomatoes and cream cakes to create his image.
Gay Byrne describes this as
A magic moment in the history of art.
Asked to describe his style John Howard Taylor describes his style as "genius" and places his work in the impressionist period. He begins by applying layers of paint to the canvas to get a feeling of his subject. As he continues with an effort to represent the movement of Gay Byrne, the artist gets over enthusiastic and knocks over the canvas.
Gay Byrne gets involved in the final stages donning a pair of rubber gloves to throw eggs, tomatoes and cream buns at the painting.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 1 April 1988. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
